This Week in VIX and VXN – 10/11/2013

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 had what could be referred to as volatile weeks. When the dust settled NDX was down slightly and SPX had an up week. Despite the underlying index dropping on the week, VXN actually dropped as well. However, VXN was down only 0.75% on the week while VIX dropped by over 6%. Taking things a step further and looking at the futures tells a little different story. The October VIX contract settled 0.02 lower than VIX on Friday. However, the October VXN future closed at 16.35 which was a discount of 0.84 to the spot index. With two more days left to trade both futures something is going to have to give and either volatility will stay around current levels and the VXN future will rise or volatility will come in a bit and the VIX futures will drop. Come Wednesday shortly after the market open we’ll know which market had it right and which one was off a little.

Russell Rhoads, CFA, is a Senior Instructor with the Options Institute at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. He joined the Institute in 2008 after a career as an investment analyst and trader with a variety of firms including Highland Capital Management, Caldwell & Orkin Investment Counsel, TradeLink Securities and… read more

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